Entangled
by Zeakari
Summary: ABANDONED - Jenny and Brad end up in another dimension. first attempt at MLaaTR
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own My Life as a Teenage Robot. Um... though I guess I kinda own the alternate characters in this story... Then again I might not use them again...

Chapter One

It was beautiful, quiet, and peaceful outside of Tremorton. It was early morning, the sun had barely come up. None of that noisy business going on in the empty fields and forests, preserved by the law, of course. Very few places like this were around anymore, and even less permitted people within.

A nest of baby birds chirped happily as their mother returned to the nest, holding a fat worm. They gathered around, greedily taking snaps at the food.

Suddenly they stopped. They could hear something in the distance, getting louder... closer. They screamed when they saw a human zoom past their nest, laughing like an idiot. The mother screamed insults at him that he had no chance of ever hearing. Then their nest was smashed into by some foreign metal object, sending them flying.

"Woooohoooo!" Brad laughed as he soared through the sky, Jenny trailing close behind him. He had on one of Miss Wakeman's older jet packs.

Jenny knew how much Brad loved those things, and her mother was planning on throwing them out. So she decided she'd give him one, as long as he promised to use it outside of Tremorton, where her mother wouldn't know. He agreed to the terms without hesitation, and there they were; flying through the sky like maniacs.

"Hey Brad!" Jenny called loudly to her friend, trying to be heard over the roaring sound of the wind whipping past them.

Despite her attempts, he couldn't hear her. She found herself struggling to keep up with the young man and started getting worried. She pushed herself and managed to at least get close enough for him to see her signaling for his attention.

He looked over at her and she tried to signal him to slow down. He shook his head, meaning he didn't understand what she meant. She sighed and activated the rockets on her feet, hoping they'd help. It did, but only a bit. She managed to get close enough for him to hear her, at least if she screamed.

"SLOW DOWN!" she shouted at him.

His eyes went wide, just realizing she was having trouble keeping up. He pressed a few buttons on the controls but nothing happened. He shook the gears a bit but that only caused him to careen wildly through the air for a moment, almost slamming into the robot.

Jenny, after Brad managed to get control over the pack again, grabbed hold of it and tried to figure out how to slow it down. There was one button that caught her attention. She pressed it and they ended up going even faster.

It only lasted a moment, but the G-force pressing against them made it seem unbearably longer. They crashed into some trees, both of them blacking out.

Jenny was the first to awaken. It had actually only taken a few minutes for her systems to repair themselves after being jarred out of place. Her eyes opened, words scrolling at the bottom of her vision informing her that the damage was repaired and how long she was out.

She sat up, holding her head. She glanced around, trying to get her bearings. They were in a dense forest, probably a few miles away from Tremorton. She stood up, feeling dizzy for only a moment.

"Brad? Brad!" she called out. "Where are you?"

She saw some torn cloth on a branch and looked around there. She spotted him, lying on the ground a few feet away, unconscious. She approached him and gasped in surprise when she saw he was bleeding. The laceration wasn't very deep, though it was bleeding quite a bit. She tore off one of his sleeves, having no cloth of her own, and wrapped it around his waist, helping to slow the blood flow.

She picked him up and flew off, heading toward her house. She knew her mother kept a large amount of first-aid items at the house.

She didn't make it there, though. Before she could get there, a large, upright, centipede-like drone from the Cluster made itself known in the city of Tremorton. Though Vexas, the queen of the Cluster, had been banished from her planet, that had never stopped the original Cluster from attacking, reminding Jenny that they would not be gotten rid of so easily.

She sighed in frustration. She flew over to a nearby building and set Brad on the roof.

"I'll be right back," she told him, as if he weren't unconscious.

She flew toward the rather large robot, ready to smash it to the moon. She pulled back a fist and punched it square in the jaw. She got in a few good hits, but it countered before she could finish it off.

It brought one of its many tentacle-like arms up and smashed her in the back, dazing her for a moment. A moment was all it needed. Its chest plate opened up and a cannon slid into place. By the time she reoriented herself, the oversized barrel had powered up and a red blast of energy hit her.

She cried out as the blast short-circuited her system. She fell to the ground, creating a small crater. Unable to move at the moment, she could only watch as the Cluster drone approached her, ready to deal the death blow. As it got closer, though, something odd happened. It seemed confused when it saw her. It even moved its head right up to her, getting a closer look.

It shook its large head, as if trying to clear it. It squinted at her, thinking for a moment. Then it finally decided to attack. One of the arms pointed at her, revealing yet another cannon. Other arms held her down, just as she regained her ability to move. She struggled against them, but she couldn't get free.

The cannon powered up, glowing red. Jenny struggled harder and managed to get one of her arms free. She quickly changed it into a laser and pointed it at the drone. Before she could get a shot in, something slammed into the thing's side, sending it flying. She was freed, but surprised. She watched as another robot started fighting the Cluster drone. It seemed also surprised that there was another one to fight.

She quickly took advantage of this and started shooting at the giant robot. Together with the other robot the battle was much easier. She'd kick it their way and it'd blast it her way. They continued like this until Jenny decided to deal the finishing blow. She extended her arm, enlarging it at the same time. When the Cluster robot came toward her again, she smashed it so hard it flew to the sky, probably going into orbit.

She grinned to herself for only a moment before remembering the other robot. She glanced around and saw it floating toward her. She got into fighting position, just in case. All because it helped her, didn't mean it was safe.

Her eyes widened in confusion when she got a good look at it.

It had her same basic shape, though there were no pigtails. The hair was a bit spikier. Instead of a tank top, it wore a regular sleeveless shirt, and jeans instead of a skirt. Boots were painted up to his knees, like hers, but a little different. It was painted sky blue in places, like her, except for the jeans, which were a bit darker.

It was a male version of her.

Jenny just stared at it, surprise written all over her face. It was unmistakably her mother's work; it was built the same. But why would she do that? Was it because she was defiant? Was her mother tired of having to deal with her? She was a little hurt, though this meant that she could lead a normal life! (At least a normal as she could get, being a robot.)

"Who are you?" the other robot asked. There was something wrong with him. He didn't look surprised, or confused. He didn't even sound that way. His voice, definitely the male version of hers, sounded monotonous.

"I'm Jenny," she answered, making him frown in thought. "Why did Mom make you?"

His frown left and he looked at her. "I don't have a mother," he answered simply.

"What?" she scratched her head. "Then who-"

"I have a father," he said, interrupting her. "Mr. Wakeman."

A Cluster drone, exactly like the one Jenny and Johnny fought was wreaking havoc upon the city of Tremorton in the original dimension.

"Where is XJ9?" Miss Wakeman cried as she ran from the robot.

"I don't know!" Sheldon replied, also running. "I haven't seen her since yesterday!"

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Tuck shrieked as he ran past the two, making them look like they were walking.

He ran into a wrecked house, the other two following him. The robot stomped past, apparently bored with them finally and after another target. They gulped in air, trying to catch their breath. They'd been running nonstop for quite awhile. As a result, Miss Wakeman ended up collapsing on a chair that was thankfully still intact.

"Ugh," she grumbled. "I'm getting too old."

"We gotta get out of here!" Tuck yelled, shaking fearfully. "We could move to another country and-"

"No way!" Sheldon stood. "If we run that thing'll just keep rampaging until it destroys the world!" he struck a dramatic pose. "We must fight against it! If we just believe, we will succeed!" He stayed in that position for a moment before slumping over. "Plus I'm tired."

"Okay... so if we're too tired, then how are we gonna be able to fight against a mechanical monster that's ten times our size?" Tuck asked, crossing his arms.

"I think, in your case, it would be twenty times your size," Wakeman said.

Tuck just glared at her.

"I got some mech. armor in my garage," Sheldon said. "Maybe those'll help."

The two of them stared at him.

"Why didn't you tell us about them before?" Wakeman exclaimed.

"Y'know, it's hard to remember things like that when I'm running for my life!"

"That's no excuse!"

"Excuse?"

Tuck just watched the two of them as they screamed at each other. His eyes got wider and wider as their insults became less and less child appropriate.

"Uh... guys?" he tried getting their attention, but they just ignored him. "Guys? GUYS!" he screamed, but they merely got louder in their argument.

He glanced around, looking for something to help get their attention. He found a pipe broken free from the rest. He picked it up, braced himself, and swung as hard as he could. It hit the other pipes, causing it to vibrate painfully in his hands. It created the loud noise he wanted, though, effectively catching their attention.

"Why don't we go get those stupid armor things instead of screaming at each other?" he asked, scowling at them like a parent at two bickering children.

The two of them stared at him in surprise before they grudgingly accepted a truce. Sheldon looked outside to see if the coast was clear.

"You think you can walk now?" Tuck asked Wakeman, massaging his hands.

"As long as we don't have to run the whole time, I'll be fine," she said, standing up.

"We might not have to," Sheldon said, coming back inside. "The robot's a ways away, so it might not see us."

"Okay, let's go!" Tuck said enthusiastically.

A few moments later...

"I thought you said it wouldn't see us?" Wakeman screamed as they ran for their lives.

"I said might not! MIGHT!" Sheldon screamed back.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Tuck ran past them once more.

The dreams slowly drifted away, leaving into the waking reality. Everything slowly became real. He slowly became aware of how cold it was. His right arm was colder than his left, for some odd reason. The sounds from his dreams had also faded away, leaving it very quiet. Only the sound of his breathing broke the silence.

He opened his eyes a crack, his eyes only taking a moment before adjusting. He glanced around, but saw nothing familiar. He tried to sit up, but his side unexpectedly started pounding painfully. He fell back, sucking in air through his teeth.

He pushed himself up, using his arms mostly this time, and glanced around. He was confused to find he was in the Wakeman residence, sitting on the living room couch. He frowned, trying to remember why he was there. Did something happen? Why was his side bandaged? Was he in an accident or something?

Then he remembered. They had crashed in a forest after his jet pack had gone out of control. He couldn't remember much anything that happened after Jenny accidentally sped up the jet pack.

He suddenly became aware of voices coming from the other room. One of them was definitely Jenny's. Another sounded similar to Jenny, but more of a base. Another sounded like Miss Wakeman, but also had more of a base sound.

He stood up, wincing slightly, and walked over to the doorway. He pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear what they were saying. He frowned when he couldn't hear anything. Not even their muffled voices.

He suddenly gasped in surprise when the door was pulled open. He fell over, grimacing as his side pounded with pain. He looked up and was surprised to see what looked like a male version of Jenny. He frowned down at him, moving to the side so he could go past. Brad stood up again and walked inside, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment and confusion.

"Brad!" he heard his friend cry before he was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Yeah... that's me..." he struggled to say," My...spine..."

"Oh! Sorry!" she pulled away, smiling. "How're you feeling?"

"Confused," he admitted. "Who are they?"

She told him.

It turned out, they were in another dimension. They managed to go fast enough to stretch a hole in the space-time continuum and slip through to the other dimension. It was like poking a whole in a piece of rubber, then stretching it out, and putting something larger through it. There were already holes like that everywhere, they just had to stretch it.

The people in this dimension all had the opposite gender. Almost everything else was the same, though. Almost everything. Personalities were altered slightly, or completely gone, in this dimension's XJ9's case. The thing that made him without personality was the lack of emotions. Mr. Wakeman could never figure out how to give him any. All he could do was give him a program that would hopefully allow him to develop emotions. Otherwise, there wasn't much he could do.

They had thought to use Jenny to help make him a personality but that idea was shot down when Mr. Wakeman noticed great differences in the two designs. Honestly, nobody else could see any differences but he certainly could.

"Hey, Johnny!" a voice, similar to Brad's but higher, called from another room. "C'mon! We gotta get to school!"

"I'm coming!" the alternate XJ9, now known as Johnny, called back, still emotionless.

He stood to leave but Jenny grabbed him by the arm.

"Wait," she said. "Why don't we come to school with you? I wanna see what this world is like!"

"What? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Brad asked her.

She gave him a confused look. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, I dunno... Maybe cuz we're from _another dimension_?"

"We could just say I'm another robot built by Mr. Wakeman and you're your alternate's long lost cousin."

She told him. Brad still looked doubtful. Jenny noticed he was rubbing his side as they were speaking. "Maybe you should stay here..." she said.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "That's okay," he told her. "If you're going then so am I."

She smiled back. She guessed as long as they were in this dimension, which she hoped wasn't too long, they might as well stick together.

Author's Notes

Questions? Reviews? Flames? Constructive criticism(mah favorite)? I welcome them with open arms! They make me think my stories are worth writing.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my very first MLaaTR story! 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I disclaim all but the alternates!

Chapter Two

Barb, Brad's alternate, was, obviously, very surprised to find Brad there. When she was told what was going on, though, she seemed to take it a lot easier than they expected. Then again, the adventures she most likely experienced with Johnny probably made her more open-minded about such things.

The two robots and two humans left the house, heading toward the alternates' Tremorton High. Brad, who had changed from his ripped shirt to a new one, glanced around for a moment. When he didn't find what he was looking for, a puzzled look crossed his features.

"Where's Tuck?" Brad asked, turning to his counterpart.

"Who?" Barb scratched her head.

"Your...um... little sister?"

"Oh, Kat. She doesn't really like walking with me anymore. She usually takes off a while before I do."

"Why's that?"

"She doesn't really like Johnny. She thinks he's evil."

"What? Why?"

"Brad... remember when we first met?" Jenny asked him, shooing an annoying fly away.

"Yeah," he looked over at her.

"Tuck didn't like me very much at all when we first met. Maybe ... um... Kat was even more convinced that Johnny is evil because of his lack of personality and emotion."

"Yeah," Barb agreed. "Kat always watches those old movies with the demented, emotionless robots taking over the world. That's where she picked up the idea."

"I should... feel offended by that... right?" Johnny spoke for the first time. Barb looked at him, something lighting up in her eyes.

"Yes!" she said, sounding like she was containing excitement. "Do you feel that?"

Johnny just stared at the ground, looking like he was in deep concentration. "I feel..." his eyelids lowered. "Nothing."

Barb seemed to deflate at this. "Well... you're getting some progress... I think you're disappointed."

He looked at her. "Disappointed?"

"Did you feel anything after you realized you felt nothing?"

He looked back down at the ground. "It felt like I was making you unhappy."

"That's close enough. You don't like it when I'm sad, so that means you feel something." she smiled. Johnny smiled back, but they could tell he was just copying her. Barb glanced around as they neared a crosswalk. "I'm going this way." she said, going down the sidewalk instead of crossing the street. "You coming, Brad?"

"What? Why aren't you coming this way?" Brad asked. "Isn't it faster this way?"

She gave him a confused look. "Maybe you don't have this problem in your dimension." She turned and continued walking. "You should come with me."

Brad glanced at Jenny, who just shrugged. They started walking with Barb when they noticed Johnny wasn't following them.

"Wait," Jenny stopped, looking toward her fellow robot. "Johnny, aren't you coming with us?"

He simply said, "No," and turned and continued going in his own direction.

"C'mon Jenny," she heard Barb call to her. "Don't want to be late, do you?

Jenny caught up to them. "But wait, why-"

"It's such a great day, isn't it?" she interrupted her, indicating the cloudy sky. She hesitated a moment. "Well... at least it's not raining."

Of course, Murphy's Law is proven yet again when it immediately starts raining.

"Oh no! I'll rust!" Jenny ran, wanting to get to the school as quickly as possible.

"Wait up!" one of the two human's yelled. It was hard to tell because of the sudden thunder.

The two teenagers came up with some excuse so they could get into the school without too much suspicion. They couldn't actually attend classes that day, though. Since the regular, stricter principal was gone for the day for some reason or another, the less strict vice-principal took over. Otherwise the two of them would have to take classes anyway, which wouldn't be too bad, just more frustrating.

They were assigned a student to show them around the school instead. Though they knew the school already, they didn't want everyone to know this since that would conflict with their story.

Currently, boy and robot were waiting for the student to show up outside the school office. Their tour guide was a little late, though, which irritated Brad. It was truly interesting to see all the differences between the two universes, but it got a bit tiring after a while. Jenny, though, was still fascinated.

"Sorry I'm late!" a voice called, accompanied by hurried footsteps. The two of them turned to quite an amusing sight. A rather dorky looking girl, hauling two duffel bags and one backpack, lurched clumsily toward the two of them. How she managed to run while two heavy bags constantly pounded her thighs was beyond them, but she managed it.

Of course, they recognized her immediately. It was too obvious that she was Sheldon's counterpart. There was barely a difference in the two. Only the higher-pitched voice and the very subtle female features separated her from him. They could easily pass off as each other if they wanted to, or if they even knew about each other.

She stopped just short of crashing into the two of them, needing to lean back a moment since her heavy bags didn't really want to stop going forward.

"Hi, I'm Shelby," she said, extending her hand out to Brad first. "I hope you'll enjoy it here at Tremorton H-" she stopped, noticing Jenny for the first time. She frowned. "You're not another one of those Johnny copies made by another scientist who can't think of ideas for himself if they constantly crashed into his skull, are you?" she asked, sternly.

"What? No!" Jenny said, feeling insulted. "I was created by Mrs.- ah... Mr. Wakeman. I'm Johnny's sister."

She smiled, looking a bit relieved. "Oh, okay. I'm sorry it's just that I hate it when people steal other people's work. _Hate!_" she growled menacingly before going back to normal. "Well, I guess we should begin the tour now. Shall we?"

"Um..." Brad scratched the back of his neck. "Are you sure you need all those bags?"

"What? Oh these?" she laughed. "Oh I carry these with me all the time! I always forget when I'm even wearing them." She laughed again, sounding shriller and less sane for a moment. "Let's begin the tour."

Needless to say, they toured the school.

At one point, they met up with Dona, obviously Don's alternate. She was the most popular and beautiful girl in school. She made a particularly nasty remark about them, which was probably the most interesting part of the tour.

When they finished, it was time for lunch.

"Well, I hope I helped you guys out all right," Shelby said. "See you later." With that, she walked off.

"That was kinda boring," Jenny remarked softly as they got in line to eat.

"That was the fun part," Brad said, grabbing a tray. "After lunch we have to pick out some classes, have all but one rejected, pick out more, and so on. It can drive you insane."

"How do you know all this?"

"Information like that just kinda floats around and I pick it up."

Jenny was about to reply as the two of them left the lunch line when they bumped into a group of girls. The robot apologized, though she might as well have pointed and laughed like a baboon. The girls were too preoccupied by quite a popular boy.

It was Johnny.

Jenny's jaw dropped at this. How is it that her counterpart was so popular, while she was a complete outcast in her world? True her popularity flared once in awhile, but most of the time she was unpopular. It irritated and intrigued her to see him so popular.

Johnny just had that effect on those girls. It could've been his lack of emotion, making him seem mysterious, or it just could've been the way he looked. Whatever it was, he was given a lot of attention for it. One of the girls jumped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, hugging him close. This caused the other girls to go into a frenzy, almost knocking over the robot.

Jenny had to feel sorry for him. She glanced around and saw Shelby watching this. She felt sorry for her too. She looked longingly at the boy before adjusting one of her duffel bags and turning away.

She and Brad found at some seats with Barb. Eventually Johnny joined them, bringing all those girls with him.

After that, just as Brad had predicted, they had a lot of frustration to go through. They were mentally exhausted after that. The secretary they had to deal with had such a nasally voice, and talked so slowly. If they were in there any longer, one of them would have cracked for sure.

They finally exited the school and found Barb out there waiting for them with Johnny. Only three of them left, though, leaving Johnny there at the school.

"Why doesn't he ever come with us?" Jenny asked.

Barb scratched her head, smiling. "Well... do you know who Shelby is?"

"Yeah, she was our tour guide," Brad responded.

"Okay. Does you world's version of her have a crush on you, Jenny?" she asked.

"A crush? More like an obsession," the robot said.

"Well, I feel kind of sorry for her so I let her walk with Johnny alone," she smiled sadly. "You must think I'm a jerk."

"What? Why would we think that?" Brad asked, confused.

"Well... I'm _using_ Johnny. What if he doesn't want to walk with her?"

"Um... He didn't seem to mind much," Brad pointed out. "You should feel glad. You're making someone happy."

"Yeah?"

"Of course."

Johnny was walking Shelby home. She clung to his arm like a lifeline. If he were human, she would've surely crushed his arm. When they reached her house, she gave him a hug, acting like she wouldn't see him in a long time. He continued walking down the sidewalk as soon as her door closed behind her. He continued walking until he saw someone he was quite surprised to see. A little, black-haired girl sat perched upon the fence, frowning at him.

"Hello, Kat," Johnny greeted her, knowing full well that she didn't like him, but also knowing that ignoring her completely wouldn't do much good. She just stared at him, a thoughtful look on her face. He was about to leave when she spoke.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why not?" Johnny answered, thinking she meant that great philosophical question.

"No, I mean, why do you do that?" she asked, sounding irritated.

"Do what?"

"You... play with them. Humans aren't toys, we have feelings," she said sternly. "Unlike you."

"How am I playing with who?"

"You're..." she stopped for a moment and bit her lip, trying to find a way to say it. After a time, she blurted something. "If you had a choice between Shelby and my sister, who would you pick?" She winced at her own blunt question, yet looked at him hopefully. He seemed confused and surprised, pretty much the extent of his emotions so far.

"Shelby... and... Barb?" he thought for a moment. Kat hopped off of the fence.

"You think on that. I'm going home," and with that, she left.

Johnny stood there for a moment, thinking, before he started again toward his home.

It was a beautiful night, though still just a bit cloudy. The air, freshened by the rain, felt so pure. A few stars could be seen along with just a sliver of the moon. Not a perfect night, mind, but still quite nice. The only thing that was a bit irritating was the grass was so wet.

The person who was irritated by this was a teenage girl who had decided to take the long way home. She found that she liked nighttime strolls, so long as she stayed on the sidewalk and off of the wet grass so her pants wouldn't get soaked.

She grinned to herself as she daydreamed about silly fantasies. Unbeknownst to her, someone was following her. She heard something crack behind her. She turned around to see what it was, but before she could, she was clubbed in he head. Only a small gasp escaped her before she was knocked out.

Around five the next morning, in that same area, someone walked outside and took a deep breath of fresh air. He was going to go for his morning walk when he saw the bloody mess.

"Oh my-!" the man exclaimed before promptly throwing up.

Author's Note

I thank you, my reviewers! I _do_ read those by the way, and they help a lot. They let me know that people are reading this rather than taking a glance, reading a bit, then leaving or something like that.

Sorry it took so long to get this up…. I'm not a very fast writer. Added on to that, it takes me looking over it a million times before I'm remotely satisfied, at least enough to put it up. I don't like how this chapter turned out myself, but I can't think of any way to change things without having to kill what I have planned. I only brought the rating up to be careful… I'm not sure if that last scene would be K+ or T.

I'm having a bit of a hard time with the next chapter. I know what's supposed to happen, I just don't know how to bring to story to it.

By the way, crashfourit, who is Rob?


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